Unheralded trio keeps Glee hopping

CENTURY CITY, Calif. — The hours are long; the tantrums, mercifully, are short. They are the unsung heroes of Glee, the music men — and woman — who pick up Glee's emotional beat when the words end.

No one outside the Glee set knows their names, except for a handful of Gleeks — obsessive devotees of all things Glee.

Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and virtually anyone associated with Glee behind the scenes on television's most lyrical, musically ambitious drama will tell you, though, that without choreographer Zach Woodlee, costume designer Lou Eyrich and music producer Adam Anders, the show would come to a grinding halt.

As Glee prepares to raise the curtain on its hope-filled, anxiety-driven sophomore season — Glee returns Tuesday on Global and Fox — Woodlee, Anders and Eyrich are huddled together, sharing program notes and deciding what, if anything, they can do to top the sight of Jane Lynch's cheerleader coach Sue Sylvester channelling her inner Material Girl in last season's show-stopping recreation of Madonna's iconic music video Vogue.

They know their work is cut out for them, but they think they have it nailed down.

The season premiere, Auditions, will pick up where last season left off, with a musical variation on the theme that every day you live is an audition for something in your life. The second episode, on Sept. 28, will revolve around pop icon Britney Spears and her strangely symbiotic, spiritual relationship with Glee's Dutch-born exchange student and cheerleader Brittany, played by Heather Morris. The Oct. 5 episode, which Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy predicts will be Glee's most controversial yet, will focus on the issue of faith, and will show Glee's young ensemble talking about what God means to them, individually, spiritually and emotionally.

For Eyrich, stitching together Glee's costumes — which may involve anything from high-school cheerleader outfits to ensembles for those show-stopping musical numbers to Sue Sylvester's leather fantasies — is a 24/7 affair.

"It's a dream job — I love my job — but it's incredibly chaotic," Eyrich admitted, in a rare moment of down time. "Some days you'll hear me screaming in the halls, 'I can't do this anymore!' And I'll come back loving it again."

It isn't the "Say-what?!" outfits that cause Eyrich the most grief, surprisingly. It's the ordinary, everyday high-school wear.

"It's really almost more of a challenge to dress them as regular high-school kids than it is to create those fun, crazy costumes, because you have to stay true to the reality, keep them young-looking while trying to make people want to watch the show and be inspired by it."

Eyrich says there's no such thing as a typical week on Glee. That said, she added with a rueful laugh, a typical week begins with a concept meeting with Murphy and that episode's script writers. They go through the entire episode, scene by scene, discuss what's possible and, more frustratingly, what isn't possible, then decide what a particular scene should look like overall.

Murphy and choreographer Woodlee then find out which songs music producer Anders was able to clear, then Woodlee draws a basic blueprint for the choreography.

Eyrich says he then gets together with the choreographer, and they argue.

"Will this work? Will that work? How about this shoe? How about that dress? Is this a tearaway? We try to work together, to put something together that's coherent, makes sense to the story and looks good."

"Try" being the operative word. Anders admits the process is chaotic, but it works for Glee.

"I definitely throw out a lot of stuff that not even Ryan (Murphy) has heard," Anders said. "I'm like, 'Wow, that sucks. Let's start over.' But I find we're under the gun so much that instinct takes over. There's really no time to second-guess. And, more often than not, it's pretty close to what Ryan was thinking from the beginning."

An episode takes roughly eight days to shoot, starting from scratch. Eyrich says she rarely sees a script until three or four days into the process. Anders usually works an episode in advance of the others, so he can nail down what songs are legally available. Even so, that's not a lot of time to smooth over the finer details.

As a further complication, some episodes may feature as many as half a dozen full-blown musical numbers. The record last season was 10. Fortunately for Eyrich and Anders' sanity, the average number is closer to two.

Anders doesn't just arrange music clearances. (Some artists are more cooperative than others. Coldplay initially said no, then saw the show, reconsidered and are now wholeheartedly on-board.) He also pens the arrangements, with his music partner Peer Astrom, who's based in Sweden. Glee has gone international.

"Once again, we take our cues from Ryan," Anders said. "'Do you want this to be an ode to the original? Do you want a reinvention? What are we looking for?' We try to serve the story, and we go from there."

The mash-ups require the most work, but they are the most fun to do, Anders added.

"They're really completely new creations. That's a lot of fun for me because that's where I get to be the most creative. My background is songwriting, so Glee is kind of an extension of that.

"My whole thing is to stay true to what Glee is, inspiration, but not go cheese. It's tricky because Glee is a little bit camp, but we try to never go too far. When I do go too far, that's the stuff you never see."

There is stress, Anders admitted, but nothing Glee's behind-the-scenes team hasn't been able to handle, so far.

Woodlee says he's usually given no more than eight hours to go over the vocals and dance moves for a specific musical number with the cast members. Anders says he's often given no more than an hour for each cast member to go over the vocal inflections on a particular song.

"This is the most civil you will see us, because we're always fighting for time," Anders said. "We never have enough time. But you gotta make it work."

Woodlee says the Glee cast members have grown by leaps and bounds, literally and figuratively, since the show's inception.

"In the beginning, it was definitely about trying to get them to work together as a unit," Woodlee said. "We would put together the best singer and the best dancer for the song, and just try to make them look as one. I used to joke — I still do, in fact — that I'm the real Will Schuester, because I'm always saying, 'We gotta get ready for nationals.' In my world, it's about making sure we get the work done in a day, but pushing it a little bit further each time. And they keep getting better."

So far, too, there have been no attitude problems or ego trips from Glee's young, overnight sensations.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Saskatoon loves its Christmas lights. The Enchanted Forest draws thousands of vehicles each week. The late Bob Hinitt worked for months building his light display, which drew thousands of cars each year to Wiggins Avenue. And Scott Lambie on Clinkskill Drive has continued the tradition with more than 70,000 dancing lights (up from 50,000 last […]

When it comes to gift giving, they say it’s the thought that counts. But many are wondering if Mayor Drew Dilkens was thinking at all when he gave Olympic superstar Michael Phelps — whose battles with booze are well known — a big bottle of Canadian Club whisky.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.